Visio Automation Controller Using Delphi

Last edit: 05-03-17 Graham Wideman

Visio + Delphi

Visio Automation Controller Using Delphi
Article created: 99-02-01

99-10-29: Delphi 5 Update: Don't proceed until you check out Delphi 5's somewhat more advanced COM Automation wrapper features. These are discussed in the D5 Developer Manual. When Delphi imports a type library, it now wraps the Events as well, making event handling as easy as in Visual Basic. This means that you don't need the utility from Binh Ly that's discussed herein if you go that route. However, the Delphi event wrapper still doesn't solve the issue of hooking up events that Visio only supplies via AddAdvise... so the following article and code may still be useful.

Introduction

It seems that controlling Visio via OLE Automation from Delphi is a frequent topic on Visio's discussion groups, and often a source of some confusion. Several historical reasons have played a part in this:

Visio hasn't invested in demos for Delphi.
The VB demos can be "translated" to Delphi, but Delphi can interact with Visio in more powerful ways.
The C++ demos are rough going to translate to Delphi, and there are simpler ways to achieve the same effect.
Even if you know the reasonably straightforward "Delphi Way" to do Automation, Visio's event-handling approach is a bit of a challenge.

So, herewith a Delphi unit that takes care of the tricky bits, and a demo of how to do it, event-handling included.

Initial Design Decisions
VSL versus Stand-Alone controller
Interface methods
Event-handling methods

The Demo and Library Code

	Download GWVisioDelphi.zip (includes these pages)
	Installation and Operation and screen shot
	Code Structure: Basic Visio Controller Functionality
	Code Structure: Event Handling
	Code Structure: Other Features

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